Shadow Wilderness

I get so confused in this month of February.  Does the groundhog see his shadow or doesn’t he?  Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  

And, then Lent begins, and the wilderness is the first stop.  Wilderness seems dry and isolated.  Both events have an element of darkness which can cause one to feel lonely, fearful, and aimless.

I’ve lived days in the shadows.  I’ve lived days and months in the wilderness.  These times were not chosen moments of mine but ones where I found myself.  These days seemed long and tiresome.  The days were filled with questions, pain, and a search for answers.  I confess, I never choose the wilderness and the shadows.  Those places dig too deeply into my mind.  And it’s not an Instagram worthy life.  There are no happy pictures or having the time of my life stories.

Are there?

    Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1

Have you wondered about Jesus being LED in the wilderness?  This is a counterintuitive experience for me.  I want to be led away from the wilderness, away from the shadows.  But here we read of Jesus being led into 40 days and nights alone, in wilderness.  What did the wilderness offer Jesus?  What can wilderness and shadows offer us?

Perhaps, by being in the wilderness, you learn.  By being in the wilderness, you ask questions.  By being in the wilderness, you hear yourself think.  By being in the wilderness, you hear the still, small voice.  By being in the wilderness, you recognize darkness and conversely can more fully recognize the gift of the light.  By being in shadows, we learn to see others more completely.  (My complaints regarding brief forays into shadows shame me as I realize that many people live in the shadows for all of life.  They may know nothing but shadows and wilderness.  Where is my empathy for them?)

I pray that one day I will accept, in joy, the wilderness and shadow days.  As these places help me hear the small voice and reveal how very much I must learn about myself, and my world, and my God.

By being in the shadows, we realize the shadow is created by light.  The shadow of which I was so afraid, was only a reminder of the light beside me.  Yes, the shadow of God beside us leads us into the wilderness.  He leads us into the learning, the power, the love, the guidance, and the still small voice of His.

The wilderness?  Let’s run into it and see what He is saying to us today.